Billionaire Soon-Shiong Says Technology Helps Retailers

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong said
his iD technology, software that identifies objects in real
time, will help retailers become more than showrooms for
competing online merchants.

In an interview on Bloomberg Television, Soon-Shiong said
mobile phones and tablet computers such as Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad can
run the iD software from his NantWorks LLC, technology initially
developed a decade ago for NASA’s Mars Rover, creating new
commercial uses.

Best Buy Co. (BBY) and other retailers complain customers visit
their stores to sample products and purchase later for less at
online stores like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) The technology can recognize
a building, such as a Starbucks cafe, communicate with a
database and offer consumers a coupon, Soon-Shiong said. Grocery
shoppers can point a device at cereal boxes for nutritional data
or discounts, he said.

“You would go into a retail store, and all of a sudden the
retail store would become a theme park and all the products
would come to life,” Soon-Shiong said. “This allows retailers
to not just be a showroom, but to become a theme park.”

Originally, iD technology was also intended to assist the
visually impaired, Soon-Shiong said. A user could hold an iD
device in front of an open cupboard, for example, and hear the
names of items inside.

Commercial Uses

Commercial applications have only become possible in the
past few years, with faster processors and better digital
cameras, Soon-Shiong said. In October, Los Angeles-based
NantWorks formed a joint venture with Malibu, California-based
Jakks Pacific Inc. (JAKK), DreamPlay Toys, to use the technology in
toys. This week the companies announced a toy venture with Walt
Disney Co. (DIS)

“We have been working on this for the last decade,” he
said, referring to the techology.

Soon-Shiong is the second-largest stockholder in Jakks,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with a 9 percent stake
valued at about $25 million.

With the ability to create Internet links to images of
objects in real time, the software also extends to Web search,
Soon-Shiong said. A device will be able to recognize a photo in
a newspaper, for example, and direct a user to a live newscast
covering the same event, he said.

“The breakthrough we have made is the ability to recognize
millions and millions of images,” Soon-Shiong said. “It has
the ability to recognize 3-D objects and recognize moving images
such as video.”